
What to expect from the first jobs report of Trump’s second presidency
CNN
The Labor Department is set to release the February jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. By and large, economists expect it will show another month of solid job gains.
The Labor Department is set to release the February jobs report at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. By and large, economists expect it will show another month of solid job gains. Consensus estimates are for a net gain of 160,000 jobs and for the unemployment rate to stay at 4% (near historically low levels). If the forecasts hold, February’s tally would outpace January’s lower-than-expected 143,000-job gain — a total that economists say was potentially influenced by seasonal factors, frigid weather and the Los Angeles wildfires. But the Trump administration’s massive federal cuts and swelling feelings of economic uncertainty helped fuel a recession-level spike in layoff plans last month, new data showed Thursday. US-based employers last month announced plans to slash 172,017 jobs, a 103% increase from a year ago and the highest February total since 2009, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas’s latest monthly job cuts report released Thursday. It’s the 12th highest monthly total in the 32 years Challenger has been tracking job cuts. The 11 others (four came during the Covid-19 pandemic) all occurred when the US was in a recession, Challenger data shows. The largest share of job cut announcements came in the government sector, where the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency has axed jobs, slashed federal spending and scrapped contracts.